IPL 7 SRH vs KKR: Knights shine bright
Robin Uthappa-led Kolkata a step closer to seal the knock-out berth
By : moses kondety
Update: 2014-05-19 06:02 GMT
Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered their third successive defeat at home to disappoint a Sunday crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here. The Kolkata Knight Riders snatched a seven-wicket win with two balls to spare to come out shining.The Knights rode on key contributions from Robin Uthappa (40), Manish Pandey (35), Yusuf Pathan (39 n.o) and a 15-ball cameo from Ryan ten Doeschate (25 n.o) to overhaul the 143-run target and consolidate their fourth position on the points table.
The Sunrisers managed to take the match to the last over though, thanks to brilliant bowling by seamer Dale Steyn and leg-spinner Karn Sharma.The visitors recovered well from an early hiccup. After the loss of captain Gautam Gambhir (6), Uthappa and Pandey were involved in a 51-run stand for the second wicket. Pandey then raised a further 45 with Yusuf Pathan, who in turn got together with Doeschate to stitch an unfinished partnership of 42 for the fourth wicket to seal the game.
Yusuf Pathan had a field day for sure he took two catches and had a hand in a runout in the first half of the match.The Sunrisers changed their captain Darren Sammy replaced Shikhar Dhawan even as the latter kept his place in the side as an opening batsman. It clearly disturbed Dhawan’s mind though, evident from his disjointed batting performance. The Delhi dasher lacked rhythm as he scampered for 19 runs quite a few of them through edges and cuts. Later, he dropped a skier off Robin Uthappa when the batsman was on 9 and the KKR total read 21 for 1 after 5 overs.
After raining runs in the previous match against powerful Punjab Kings, the Sunrisers hit a dry patch against an average Kolkata Knight Riders to disappoint a holiday crowd. Their 142 for 8 was certainly short and a huge challenge for their bowlers to defend. Barring the toss, nothing went right for the home side. The sub-standard scoring rate told the story. The Eagles eked out 37 runs between the 5th and 10th overs; just 32 between overs 10 and 15; and a mere 33 in the last five overs.
With 34, David Warner was the top scorer for the hosts. The Sunrisers lost their first wicket in the second over. Aaron Finch the casualty, courtesy a brilliant catch by Morne Morkel at long-on.The towering South African ran in before stooping low to give his team the first high of the match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: A. Finch c Morkel b UT Yadav 8, S. Dhawan c Gambhir b Narine 19, N. Ojha c Pathan b Shakib Al Hasan 22, D. Warner c Pathan b U. Yadav 34, KL Rahul lbw b Chawla 14, I. Pathan (not out) 23, D. Sammy c Pandey b Shakib Al Hasan 7, K. Sharma (run out) Pathan 4, D. Steyn b UT Yadav 1. Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 8) 10. Total (for eight wickets in 20 overs) 142.
FoW: 1-14, 2-41, 3-64, 4-98, 5-104, 6-129, 7-139, 8-142.
Bowling: Morkel 4-0-39-0, Yadav 4-0-26-3, Narine 4-0-21-1, Shakib 3-0-22-2, Doeschate 1-0-8-0, Chawla 4-0-24-1.
Kolkata Knight Riders: R. Uthappa run out (Ojha) 40, G. Gambhir c Ojha b Steyn 6, M. Pandey c Finch b Sharma 35 32, Y. Pathan (not out) 39, R. ten Doeschate (not out) 25. Extras (lb 1) 1 Total (for three wickets in 19.4 overs) 146.
FoW: 1-8, 2-59, 3-104.
Bowling: B. Kumar 3.4-0-37-0, D. Steyn 4-0-24-1, K. Sharma 4-0-19-1, D. Sammy 1-0-7-0, A Mishra 4-0-38-0, I. Pathan 3-0-20-0